If you are about to buy a new radio seriously consider either the Hi-Tech Aurora 9 or the Spektrum DX8. One reason: telemetry. Your transmitter will tell you if your receiver battery or signal strength is in trouble.

I was flying with a friend who has just switched to the Hi-Tech, it started beeping like crazy with a distinctive 3 in a row beep and he could have saved his plane had he known what the beeps meant and had he responded more quickly. His receiver battery dropped a cell and his radio warned him with enough time to save it. He is thrilled with the technology and has now spent more time with his radio and will bring the model down quickly next time. I was standing beside him and he was asking me if I knew what those beeps were. I fly with a DX7 so wasn't much help. I'm happy with my DX7 but am looking forward to upgrading to one with telemetry in the future.